Al Gore's Hitman? (4/26/98) "Industrial group plans to fight climate treaty."
So reports Jack Cushman, one of the New York Times' greenie-weenie reporters, in a front page story. As executive director of
one of the groups mentioned in the story, I take exception to Cushman's distortions and inaccuracies. First there was no "proposal," as Cushman
claims--only the very preliminary and rough musings of about eight people. Second, neither Dr. Fred Singer nor Dr. Frederick Seitz were
involved at all in the activity. But Cushman did get one thing right "Exposing the plan at this stage... would probably ruin chances of raising
money to carry out the plan." Is that why the Times published the story? Is Cushman simply a "hitman" for the global warming
mobsters?

Junkman Threatened with Lawsuit (4/24/98) Curtis Moore, a former aide to the
late Senator Edmund Muskie, has threatened to sue me for "every f***ing penny I've got" because of an article on this page that refers to him as an "environmental activist." He says he is an "objective writer
and reporter," not an "environmental activist." That may be. I don't know him from Adam. The article was not written by me, but was a report
by Fred Smith and Jim Sheehan of the Competitive Enterprise Institute during the last December's Kyoto climate conference. And as is clearly
denoted, material on the Junk Science Home page is strictly opinion. But don't some people have thin skin? Of course, I could offer to retract
the statement -- but it's not mine! Does anyone know Curtis Moore? Any suggestions for how he should be characterized? Feel free to e-mail
me your suggestions. Note: the threatening e-mail contains language that may not be suitable for children.

Is EPA about to drive you buggy? (4/24/98) "Don't like bugs? Then this could
be a very bad year for you. The Environmental Protection Agency may promulgate the most sweeping anti-insecticide regulations in U.S.
history.

Good news is no news on Planet Earth (4/24/98) "The whole aim of practical
politics," said H.L. Mencken, "is to keep the populace alarmed - and hence clamorous to be led to safety - by menacing it with an endless series
of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

New Data to Cast Doubt on Endocrine Disruption Hypothesis (4/23/98) A research physiologist with the U.S.
Geological Service, referring to a not-yet-released study, says no evidence links chemicals in the environment with reproductive problems in
Florida panthers. Another recently completed report failed to find a link between DDT and health effects in alligators. Also, a hypothesized
link between a certain industrial chemical and the feminization of male fish has been disproved. Reportedly, the major source of estrogen the
fish were exposed to was estrogen in human urine from women taking birth control pills. [Source: Daily Environment Report (April
23, 1998].

EPA's Environmental Injustice (4/23/98) "Earth Day on Wednesday reminded
many Americans of the country's progress in protecting the environment. But some poor and minority citizens may have less to cheer about,
thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency.

WTI Incinerator "Safe," Says EPA (4/22/98) In an addendum to its 1997 risk assessment of the long-controversial
Waste Technologies Industries hazardous waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio, EPA declared the incinerator poses no significant risks.
[Source: Daily Environment Report (4/22/98)]. It is somewhat curious, though, that EPA views an incinerator located only 1,100
feet from a school to be safe, yet the Agency questions the safety of storing nuclear waste two miles underground and 100 miles from anywhere
(i.e., Yucca Mountain).

Clean Needles May Be Bad Medicine (4/22/98) David Murray questions the
Clinton Administration statement that "meticulous scientific review has now proven that needle-exchange programs can reduce the transmission
of HIV and save lives without losing ground on the battle against illegal drugs."

Who's Next? (4/22/98) "Beer lovers of America, better drink up. The same
political class that is now sucking $516 billion from Big Tobacco is already scanning the horizon for its next rich business target. "Big Booze"
is being nominated. Congratulations on being chosen."

Gore Asks Chemical Industry to Test for Any Toxic Effects (4/22/98) As part
of the "right-to-know" farce, Al Gore says companies can voluntarily test chemicals, or the government will make testing mandatory. Now that's
volunteerism! Also, if the public has the right-to-know about chemicals, is the government subject to the public's right-to-know about junk
science?

Scientists Find Further Global Warming
Evidence in Temperature Reconstruction Study? (4/22/98) According to this press release, "The researchers were able to estimate
temperatures over more than half the surface of the globe, pinpointing northern hemisphere yearly temperatures to a fraction of a degree back
to 1400 A.D." But anybody can estimate almost anything. How do we know that their estimates are any good? My local weathermen won't
be able to tell me today's temperature within a fraction of a degree. But I'm supposed to believe these nudniks know the temperatures of 600
years ago? Hah!

Affirmative Action for Junk Science (4/21/98) As President Clinton prepares
to make "environmental justice" -- the 1990s version of Reconstruction era carpetbagging -- a new civil rights initiative to be announced on Earth
Day, an internal EPA memo reveals that "`community fears, even if believed to be unfounded, should be counted at some level.'" So I guess
junk science isn't for "whites only."

U.S., Britain Relocate Nuclear Material From Volatile Georgia (4/21/98) Fear
of U.S. environmental group reaction stopped U.S. officials from taking control over a supply of highly-enriched uranium and spent nuclear
fuel stored at a research reactor outside the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. I guess the enviros think it's better to allow the nuke materials to fall
into the hands of Chechen gangs, Iran, or another aspiring nuclear power.

Mass Extinction Underway, Majority of Biologists Say (4/21/98)Washington Post staff writer Joby Warrick says "A majority of the nation's biologists are convinced that a 'mass extinction' of plants
and animals is underway..." It turns out that the reported "majority of the nation's biologists" is really a poll of only 400 scientists.
And while I too am fond of plants and critters, species come and go everyday -- regardless of human activity. Some adapt to change, and some
don't. Granted human activity often irrevocably changes/eliminates habitats, but it's not clear whether and how this is a "major threat" to
humans.

A Myth Stubbed Out (4/21/98) "The European Union should scrap plans to ban
tobacco advertising because such a move, far from reducing smoking, would lead to an increase in the activity,
says Roger Bate.

New Drugs Give Cause for Hope In Battle Against Breast Cancer?
(4/20/98) Don't bank on it -- yet. For tamoxifen: (1) The clinical trial was cut short so no one knows what the long
term effects are; (2) The occurence of breast cancer in most individual women is not predictable and no one can predict on which women
tamoxifen will work (if, in fact, it does) -- so, at best, breast cancers prevented by tamoxifen are basically random events; and (3) tamoxifen
reportedly increases the risk of endometrial cancer and blood clots. It all adds up to added risks and no peace of mind -- what benefits! For
Evista, after only two-years of clinical trials, it's premature to say what the effects are. Of course, there is plenty of money to be
made in the meantime by the new junk science mobsters!

Room Temperature and Crib Death? (4/20/98) The big news from Reuters
is that high room temperatures -- those over 64 degrees Fahrenheit?! -- are to blame for crib deaths. At least, so says French researcher Dr.
Eric Millet, an "expert." Doesn't Reuters employ any editors who can read and think at the same time?

Time to Defoliate? (4/20/98) "Worried about air pollution? Your own backyard
could be part of the problem," say Australian scientists. But don't start looking for Agent Orange at Home Depot just yet!

Is the New York Times learning? (4/18/98) The New York
Times criticizes the recent study reporting that adverse drug reactions kill 106,000 annually. In doing so, the Times says "The
study also uses a controversial technique that combines imprecise studies to reach a statistically definitive conclusion." The "controversial
technique" the Times refers to is meta-analysis -- the same garbage-in-garbage-out technique used to railroad secondhand smoke
with the lung cancer rap. But don't expect the Times to apply its skepticism about meta-analysis to secondhand smoke -- that would
be politically incorrect.

John Fialka: Yellow Journalist? (4/17/98) In his Wall Street Journal article "Global Warming Debate
Gets No Consensus in Industry," (4/16/98) reporter John Fialka wrote that Fred Palmer, CEO of Western Fuels Association, Inc., "has spent
the past several years financing papers by some renegade scientists to dispute the scientific projections that underlie the global warming
projections by the Clinton Administration." Renegade scientists? Scientific projections... by the Clinton Administration? I guess Fialka could
have worked for William Randolph Hearst!

Ross Gelbspan Still Not a Pulitzer Prize Winner (4/16/98) The Pulitzer Prizes were announced this week. Author
Ross Gelbspan missed out again. Click here if you missed the first part of this story.

Look out junk-food junkies, here comes the Twinkie tax (4/16/98) "'To me,
there is no difference between Ronald McDonald and Joe Camel,' says Dr. Kelly D. Brownell, a psychologist and director
of the Yale University Center for Eating & Weight Disorders." So the next question can only be: Is there any difference between Brownell and
Ronald McDonald?

Way to Go New England Journal of Medicine! (4/15/98) Regarding attributable risk (i.e., the formula for
calculating "body counts," such as the statistic 400,000 annual deaths are caused by smoking), New England Journal of Medicine
editors Marcia Angell and Jerome Kassirer today wrote "Calculations of attributable risk are fraught with problems. They provide only an upper
bound for the effect of a single variable, because many other factors, both recognized and unrecognized, may also be contributing to the
outcome. When several know factors are taken into account, it is even possible that they account for more than 100 percent of deaths -- a
nonsensical result." So why is the state of Maryland changing it's law so that attributable risk is admissible evidence against tobacco companies?
[Source: New England Journal of Medicine 1998;338:1158 (April 16, 1998)].

The People's Republic of Maryland Bolsters Its Own Tobacco Suit with Junk Science
(4/15/98) The Maryland legislature changed the laws concerning facts the State would have to prove in its lawsuit against
the tobacco industry. "Lawmakers... overturned a recent circuit court ruling that undermined the state's case. They rewrote the law
to permit Maryland to seek compensation for huge sums paid for smoking-related illnesses without having to produce individual victims in
court... The measure [would] allow the state to prove its case by using "statistical evidence" of smoking-related diseases and costs, an easier
case to make." The statistical evidence that will be allowed in more than likely consists of so-called "body counts" -- mythical statistics such
as "smoking causes 400,000 deaths annually." But as New England Journal of Medicine editor Marcia Angell recently editorialized about the
body count for obesity "...although some claim that every year 300,000 deaths in the United States are caused by obesity, that figure is by no
means well established. Not only is it derived from weak or incomplete data, but it is also called into question by the methodologic difficulties
of determining which of many factors contribute to premature death."

15,000 Basic and Applied American Scientists Say No Convincing Scientific Evidence Exists That Humans Are Causing Global
Warming (4/14/98) Click here or
here (backup) to visit the web site for more information!

The Fat's Getting Out of the Fire (4/14/98) Recent studies have reported being overweight is not as "deadly" as once
thought. For example, check out the article "Obesity and Premature Mortality (1/1/98)" in the Archives. Now, a new study reports that 70
percent of Americans do not face substantial mortality risk based on being overweight or underweight. [Source: American Journal of
Epidemiology 1998;147:739-749.]

Global Warning (4/14/98)
Peter Jennings of ABC did an incredible propaganda show on Saturday Night called "Global Warning: Al Gore and the Apocalypse." It was
skewed in favor of Gore, attacked industry for trying to "derail" the Kyoto treaty, and characterized warming deniers as being opposed to
science. Gore was interviewed, given cream puff questions, and allowed to answer in short 5 second bites. Check out the web version of the
report at the above link. ABCnews.com is conducting an Internet poll on the issue -- act now or wait for definitive proof? Despite the biased
show, "wait for definitive proof" was winning overwhelmingly on Saturday night after the show (71%-29%, 713 votes) and Sunday (69% -31%,
902 votes).

Hamsters and Smoke Particles from the Kuwati Oil Fires (4/9/98) Harvard School of Public Health researchers
recently concluded that airborne particles from the Kuwaiti oil well fires set by the Iraqis at the end of the Persian Gulf War, when injected into
the lungs of hamsters, were no more dangerous than urban particles from St. Louis, Mo. What does this say about St. Louis? [Source:
Environmental Health Perpsectives
March 1998].

The Kernel Did It: The Popcorn Injury Hotline
(4/9/98) On the Daily Feed homepage, there is a RealAudio feed
of today's two-minute satire, titled "The Kernel Did It", a satire of liability lawsuits. In it,
a law firm advertises for people who may know of family or friends who
were killed by popcorn. The ad states the law firm has firm evidence that
popcorn is responsible for the deaths of millions a year. Look for the program at
"Latest Feeds" on the homepage. If you miss it today, it'll be moved to "Recent Feeds."

Smog Spreading to South Pacific? (4/1/98) Of course this is just a press release
-- supporting studies have not been published and, oh yeah, the scientist involved is the same guy who started ozone depletion hysteria. So let's
just say this is a long way from what we would consider scientific fact.

New Britain: A Regulator's Paradise (4/1/98) "The state regulation of everyday
life threatens to undermine critical thinking and the moral autonomy of the individual. The real danger is not passive smoking but passive
living."

Calcium Channel Blockers and the Risk of Cancer (4/1/98) Several years ago
researchers from Wake Forest University and the University of Washington started the scare over the class of hypertension drugs called "calcium
channel blockers." These researchers have linked CCBs with evrything from heart attacks to cancer to AIDS to suicide. But this new study fails
to support the cancer scare.

Thanks! (4/1/98) The Junk Science Home Page is two years old today! Many thanks to all for helping make the page
a success.

Study Says Diet Pill Redux Is Less Dangerous Than Believed (4/1/98) A new
development in the diet drug controversy. Although the study doesn't provide evidence that Redux is associated with heart valve disease, this
is an odd study. It was the fen-phen combination that was reportedly linked with heart valve disease; Redux was reportedly linked with
pulmonary hypertension. But this study looked at Redux and heart valve disease?

Material presented on this home page constitutes opinion of the author.